


It Takes Two

by softforsonny



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Assistant Camera (AC) Emily, Cinematographer Lindsey, F/F, Kelley is low key a matchmaker but also a cockblock, Movie Set AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:29:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22944073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softforsonny/pseuds/softforsonny
Summary: Sonnett’s brows crinkle in confusion. “You know we have PA’s for that kind of thing, right?”“Okay then, what’s your kind of thing then?” Lindsey asks calmly.“Managing the equipment, assembling the camera rig, pulling focus,” Sonnett lists “And making sure you have what you need.”“Well what I need right now is a coffee.”--In which Lindsey is a weathered and bitter cinematographer and Emily teaches her that accepting help from others may not be so terrible after all.
Relationships: Lindsey Horan/Emily Sonnett
Comments: 17
Kudos: 137





	It Takes Two

**Author's Note:**

> I'm supposed to be taking a break from writing but that photo of Lindsey holding a camera came out and I couldn't get this out of my head. Thanks to slidetacklefc for helping me finally settle on a title, as well as a few others for suggesting titles. 
> 
> Tried to limit the amount of industry terminology/slang, but also wanted to stay somewhat true to how film crews speak to each other.
> 
> A quick glossary:  
> AC/1st AC- assistant camera  
> PA - production assistant  
> crafty - craft services, department that supplies snacks and drinks
> 
> There are many other words that I'm not going to define bc it's not super integral to understanding the story, but if there are any words you are confused/curious about feel free to let me know and I'd be happy to explain.

There’s a special place in hell for five AM call times. 

Especially last minute ones, like this. Kelley, her producer friend, had called her freaking out the previous afternoon, her production’s cinematographer going AWOL last minute and begging Lindsey to step in for them. Secretly being a complete pushover for her friends, Lindsey agreed to help.

  
\--

Lindsey has just lugged in the last case of gear when Kelley appears next to her. Lindsey jumps, startled.

“Horan!” She bellows. “I can’t thank you enough, you’re really doing me a solid here.” 

Lindsey just grunts in response as she crouches down to start unpacking her gear, unable to meet Kelley’s energy at this early hour. 

“So I have a surprise for you.” Kelley continues.

“Is it a cup of coffee?” Lindsey quips.

“No, better.” This catches Lindsey’s attention as she looks up at Kelley skeptically. “I got you an AC.”

Lindsey groans dramatically. “Kel, you _know_ I hate working with AC’s.” 

“I know, I know. But she was already on the project and I didn’t want to fire her.” Kelley ignores the daggers that Lindsey is sending her way. “Plus she’s really good, I swear.”

“Yeah the last AC was good too, until he dropped my one thousand dollar lens.”

Kelley ignores her. “This will be good for you. Maybe you’ll learn how to play nice with others.” 

Lindsey scoffs. “I play amazing by myself. I don’t see why the ‘others’ are necessary.”

“Suck it up Horan, because she’s walking over now.”

Lindsey stands up just in time to see a girl a little shorter than herself approaching them. She’s wearing a white t-shirt, black jeans with a flannel tied around her waist and a black cap fitted on top of a sloppy blonde bun. 

When she reaches them, Kelley slaps a hand on the girl’s shoulder. 

“Horan, Sonnett. Sonnett, Horan.” She levels a look at Lindsey. “Be nice.”

Sonnett quirks an eyebrow at this, but Lindsey just rolls her eyes. 

“Okay boss, where do you want me to start?” Sonnett asks after Kelley leaves them, gesturing to the pile of gear.

“You can get me a coffee.” 

Sonnett’s brows crinkle in confusion. “You know we have PA’s for that kind of thing, right?” 

“Okay then, what’s your kind of thing then?” Lindsey asks calmly. 

“Managing the equipment, assembling the camera rig, pulling focus,” Sonnett lists “And making sure you have what you need.” 

“Well what I need right now is a coffee.” 

It’s blunt. Probably too blunt. 

Sonnett just does a tight little nod. “If that’s what you need.” She says in a measured tone. She turns and heads towards crafty.

Now Lindsey feels a little guilty. She doesn’t mean to be such a jerk and she knows Sonnett is right about this not being her job. But it’s early, she doesn’t like surprises and she _especially_ doesn’t like this surprise. 

If she can keep Sonnett busy with menial tasks, it’ll be like she’s not even there, she reasons. 

She rushes to finish building the camera rig before Sonnett returns with the coffee. Handling the parts, every edge and groove is ingrained in her muscle memory. She could do this with her eyes closed. 

Screwing the cheese plate to the camera body, rails through the base, arm and monitor to the camera cage, carefully attaching a lens and sliding the matte box on behind it, double and triple checking that all knobs and screws are tight.

She gets lost in the familiar routine, so lost in fact, that she doesn’t even notice that Sonnett is back until she clears her throat.

Lindsey accepts the offered cup with a quiet thanks, surprised to find the coffee exactly how she likes it. 

“Kelley said you like it no cream with Sweet N Low.” Sonnett explains. 

Lindsey hums and turns back to her camera, fiddling with the settings. 

“Here let me do that, you can go work on blocking with the director.” Sonnett offers. 

Lindsey shakes her head. “It’s faster if I just do it, since you don’t know how I like to shoot.” 

Sonnett snorts at this. “I can at least set up the standard stuff, unless you’re one of those awful people who like to shoot in thirty frames per second” She jokes.

Lindsey doesn’t bother acknowledging her comment. Sonnett’s eyes widen at Lindsey’s silence. “Please tell me you’re not one of those people.”

This makes Lindsey look at her, incredulous. “ _Fuck_ no.”

Sonnett lets out a relieved exhale. “Thank god, I would’ve had to quit on the spot.”

“You still can.”

“Not getting rid of me that easily.” She replies, seemingly unbothered.

Sonnett steps over next to her and snaps open one of the cases. Lindsey lunges over and pushes the case closed again, snapping it shut. 

Now Sonnett is starting to look irritated. 

“So what exactly _can_ I do?”

Deciding to just be straight up with her, Lindsey pauses in her work to face Sonnett.

“Look, here’s the deal. I work by myself. I _like_ working by myself. This is not personal and I understand that Kelley wants you here. All I ask is that you stay out of my way.” 

“So what, I just sit here all day?”

Lindsey glances around what she claims is the organized chaos of her equipment. Digging around in one of the bags, she unearths the clapper, handing it to Sonnett along with a dry erase marker from another bag. Sonnett accepts the clapper, looking down at it and Lindsey returns to her work of setting up the camera.

A few minutes she looks up, surprised to see Sonnett not only still there, but also watching her intently. Lindsey gives her a weird look.

“What? Am I in your way?” Sonnett asks in a sarcastic tone. 

Lindsey mutters a short “no” and goes back to her work, trying to ignore the focused gaze of the girl next to her.

\--

Despite her earlier irritation at the situation, Sonnett was dutifully doing what Lindsey asked and stayed near enough to Lindsey not to arouse too much suspicion, while also maintaining enough distance to stay out of the way.

The third time Lindsey has to run over to the equipment room to switch to a different lens, Kelley blocks her exit out of the room. Lindsey sheepishly holds up the lens. “Had to get a different lens.”

Kelley does not seem amused.

“Look, Lindsey.” Kelley levels a look at her. “I’m telling you this not as your friend, but as the producer. You need to let Sonnett do her job.” 

“But-”

“Give her a chance.” Kelley cuts her off. “Maybe she’ll surprise you.”

Lindsey sighs in defeat while Kelley lets her through to continue back to set.

Sonnett looks confused when Lindsey walks up to her, carrying the lens. Lindsey silently holds out the lens for Sonnett to take, looking beyond the space above her shoulder, avoiding eye contact. 

Sonnett looks from Lindsey to the lens, then back to Lindsey, realization setting in. She gives Lindsey a wide smile and takes the lens, brushing her fingers against Lindsey’s as she does. 

\--

Lindsey hates to admit it, but she’s impressed. It seems like Sonnett is in a million places at once. She’s quick, efficient, and seems to be a step ahead of Lindsey the entire time. 

When she needs to adjust the tripod legs to be shorter, Sonnett is already crouched down, loosening the knobs and steadying it as it lowers. When she turns around to ask Sonnett to grab a new lens, she’s already standing there holding the exact one she needs. When she’s spinning around, trying to remember where she set her water bottle, Sonnett appears holding the bottle with a neat “LH” written on the cap with sharpie.

They’re in between takes, waiting for the gaffer to adjust a light, and Lindsey is curiously watching Sonnett joke around with Rose, one of the actors. Rose seems to be teaching her some dance as Sonnett cracks up, mid hip twirl. Sonnett catches her staring and winks.

Lindsey rolls her eyes, but can feel herself blush, just a little.

The assistant director calls everyone to attention, and Sonnett immediately snaps to focus, getting in position to mark the scene. 

“Camera?”

“Rolling.”

“Sound?”

“Speeding.”

“Slate?”

“Scene four-alpha, take two. Mark.” Sonnett shuts the filmsticks, making the clapping noise, before walking off frame to stand behind Lindsey as she mans the camera. 

At the end of the take, Lindsey leans back away from the camera, bumping into Sonnett, who was leaning over her shoulder to watch the shot in the viewfinder. 

“Play that shot back.” Sonnett says.

“Why?” Lindsey replies, confused.

“Just do it.” Sonnett twirls her finger, motioning to replay.

As Lindsey plays it back, Sonnett leans in closer, so close that Lindsey can feel little puffs of breath by her cheek.

The shot ends and Sonnett leans back and lets out a low whistle. “That’s the money shot.”

“Yeah?” Lindsey asks, not expecting Sonnett’s response.

“Definitely.” Sonnett nods confidently. “This must be why they call you the Great Horan.”

Lindsey groans. “Who told you that.” 

Sonnett grins, mischief in her eyes. “I’m no snitch.”

  
\--

They break for lunch and Lindsey gets pulled aside by the director to discuss the blocking for the next scene. She passes the camera off to Sonnett, finally starting to feel like she can trust her to take good care of it.

The conversation runs longer than Lindsey expected and she glances at her watch, realizing that lunch is almost over when she feels a hand on her elbow. 

She looks over to see Sonnett holding out a sandwich and a LaCroix for her. She takes them, mouthing a quick ‘thanks’ and turning back to the director to finish their conversation. 

With only a couple minutes of lunch left, Lindsey finds Sonnett by the crafty table, telling a story animatedly to a handful of crew members. Her energetic gestures and dramatic facial expressions have her listeners rapt.

For a moment Lindsey feels jealous that she seems to so easily be able to charm even the most stubborn people on set (like herself, for instance). Even Alyssa, the reserved sound mixer was laughing along as Sonnett reaches the punchline of her story.

Then she feels a little jealous that she wasn’t able to hear the story that had everyone bent in half, cracking up.

She shakes off the feeling, catching Sonnett’s attention and waving her over to the equipment room. 

When they get to the equipment room, Lindsey explains.

“We’re changing a couple of shots, combining them to be one long tracking shot. It’s going to be handheld so we need to move the camera onto the Steadicam.” 

Sonnett nods in understanding. 

Lindsey begins removing the camera from its place on the tripod while Sonnett begins assembling the Steadicam. 

“So what kind of name is Sonnett anyways?”

Sonnett shoots Lindsey an amused glance. “It’s my last name. My first name is Emily.”

Lindsey hums and finishes releasing the camera, moving over to where Sonnett is working. “My first name is Lindsey by the way.”

“I know” Sonnett, or Emily she supposes, says lightly. 

“You know?”

“We’ve worked together before.” 

Lindsey narrows her eyes in suspicion. “You’re messing with me.” 

“We did!” Emily protests. “It was years ago. I was a clueless PA, my first set out of film school. You were the first AC.” 

Emily takes the camera from Lindsey, screwing the plate for the Steadicam onto it, continuing. 

“The producer had just chewed me out. I was sitting in the corner feeling sorry for myself. You saw me there and instead of minding your own business, you helped me up and gave me a cookie that you took from crafty. You encouraged me to keep going and finish the day, because I still had a job to do.” 

Emily’s eyes look distant as she’s lost in the memory. Her eyes slowly focus on Lindsey. 

“If you hadn’t shown me that bit of kindness that day, I probably would’ve quit.” She says quietly.

Lindsey racks her brain, trying to remember, but her mind is blank.

“I don’t think I remember, sorry.” Lindsey admits. 

Sonnett passes her the vest to put on, helping her adjust the straps so it’s snug. “It’s fine, I wouldn’t expect you to.” 

She finishes tightening the straps, looking up, and Lindsey realizes how close they’re standing. 

“You were the cool, professional AC who had it all figured out and I was just the scared kid from film school.” Sonnett smiles softly up at Lindsey.

Feeling a little dazed by Emily’s proximity, Lindsey clears her throat. “Film school doesn’t really prepare you for producers bullying you, huh.”

Sonnett laughs and steps back, breaking the moment. “It does not.”

Lindsey holds the camera by the handle of the rig as Emily works on weighting it so it’s balanced. She watches her work, tongue peeking out the corner of her mouth in concentration. Lindsey finds herself fixated on the freckles dusting her cheeks and the little bit of hair that’s fallen out of her bun and into her face. 

As Emily straightens up, Lindsey quickly redirects her eyes, not wanting to get caught staring. 

Emily gives her a thumbs up. “Good to go.” 

  
\--

“Slate?”

“Scene seven-Horan, take one. Mark.” 

Lindsey rolls her eyes at Emily’s slating. 

“Why are you so obsessed with me?” Lindsey mutters under her breath as Sonnett joins her side.

“I’m your AC, it’s my job to be obsessed with you.” Emily responds in a low voice. 

Lindsey lets out a little snort, getting a sharp glare from the assistant director for the noise. 

“Action!”

They begin walking backwards, the actors walking after them. Emily leads Lindsey as she quickly strides backwards, a steadying hand on Lindsey’s back.

“Cut!” 

“Ugh. The focus is soft there at the end.” Lindsey turns to Emily. “You any good at pulling focus?” 

Emily nods, “It’s one of my many talents.”

“I’m going to have to hear more about those later.” Lindsey says before thinking.

Lindsey feels a thrill run through her body at the light blush rising to the shorter girl’s cheeks. However, Emily recovers quickly and smirks. “That can be arranged.”

Lindsey suddenly remembers something. “Oh crap.”

“What?”

“I didn’t bring a follow focus.” 

Emily shrugs. “That’s fine, we’ll just do it the old fashioned way.”

  
\--

Lindsey is starting to regret her decision to have Emily pull focus for her. Since Emily has to adjust the focus directly to the lens, rather than using the follow focus attachment, she’s crowding Lindsey’s space, one hand reaching past Lindsey’s to the lens focus ring, the other hand resting on Lindsey’s shoulder for support. 

She’s hyper aware of the place on her shoulder where Emily’s fingers brush the skin exposed by the neckline of her v-neck t-shirt. Emily’s scent is clouding her senses, smelling vaguely of honeysuckle and clean laundry and she can feel the tickle of flyaway hairs on her jaw.

Lindsey tries to be subtle as she breathes deeply through her nose, trying to relax and focus, but instead just getting an even bigger whiff of honeysuckle. 

Emily picks up on her discomfort, looking at her, concerned. Her freckles are even more noticeable this up close. 

“You good?”

Lindsey gulps and nods, forcing her shoulders to relax. Emily rubs a soothing thumb where it rests on Lindsey’s shoulder. 

“Camera?”

Emily reaches across Lindsey, pressing record for her so she doesn’t have to readjust her hands on the Steadicam.

“Rolling.” Lindsey confirms in a strangled voice.

They call for sound and mark the take, the director calling for action.

They stride backwards together, perfectly in sync, Emily keeping the focus sharp. They reach the end of the shot, director yelling cut, and Emily turns to Lindsey with a delighted grin stretched across her face. It’s infectious and Lindsey can’t help but return one in kind.

“We _nailed_ it!” Emily says. “Dream team!” She holds up a hand to high five. Lindsey brings up a hand to high five her back, but when their palms meet, Emily links her fingers through Lindsey’s to hold her there. They stand like that for a minute, grinning at each other until Kelley breaks the moment.

“Stop flirting and reset so we can do the next take.”

Lindsey’s face grows warm and tries to take her hand away, but Emily refuses to let go as she laughs. 

They walk back to their starting position, hands swinging playfully between them, and despite Lindsey’s burning cheeks, she can’t help but feel pleased that Emily wouldn’t let her retract her hand.

  
\--

It was the last shot of the day and for the first time in her career, Lindsey wanted it to stretch on as long as possible. 

“MARTINI SHOT!” Emily bellows from behind her, Kelley echoing the call from the other side of the set. 

Lindsey flinches, startled. “Jesus. Do you even like martinis?”

“I like getting drunk.” Emily quips. “Speaking which, are you going to the wrap party?”

Lindsey pauses, torn. She hasn’t been to a wrap party in years and for good reason. But Emily is looking up at her with hopeful eyes and radiating sunshine and energy despite the long hours they both worked today. Lindsey finds herself unwilling to disappoint the other girl.

“I guess I do still need to hear about those other talents of yours.”

Emily throws an arm around Lindsey’s shoulders. “Hell yeah you do.”

  
\--

As Emily passes her equipment to load in the truck, Lindsey catches her gaze lingering on her arms and shoulders and if Lindsey flexes just a bit while reaching for the next case, who can really blame her.

  
\--

Lindsey parks in front of Kelley’s place, where the after party is being held and starts to rethink her decision when she hears the thumping music from the street.

She lets herself in and walks down the hall, hoping to find Emily. Almost like she sensed Lindsey’s arrival, Emily appears in the hallway, a flush on her cheeks and her hat gone to reveal an even messier bun. 

Emily positively lights up when she sees her and turns the other way.

“HEY EVERYONE! THE GREAT HORAN IS HERE!” Lindsey can hear whooping coming from the attached room after the announcement. 

“Was that really necessary?” She grumbles.

Emily ignores her. “Let’s get you a drink.” 

Lindsey’s protests die in her throat the seconds Emily slips her fingers through her own to lead her into the kitchen.

  
\--

Lindsey somehow finds herself roped into playing a game of flip cup. She hasn’t played this in years, not since she became something of a social recluse, but she remembers being pretty good at it. She gets pushed to the end, right next to Emily who grins at her. 

“Ready to win?” Emily raises her eyebrows expectantly.

“More like ready to lose.” Kelley cuts in from across the table.

Before Emily can respond, the game starts. Lindsey watches as her teammates chug and attempt to flip the cup, slowly working down the chain towards her. She’ll be the last one, after Emily. 

She watches as it reaches Emily, who tips her head back, neck taut, chugging the beer in seconds and flipping the cup on her second try.

Lindsey shakes off the thought of her lips on Emily’s neck as she tips her head back to drink and focuses on the task at hand. 

The other team is evenly tied with them, just Kelley left in their line and Lindsey knows that if they lose, Kelley will never let them hear the end of it, so the pressure is on to perform.

Luckily, Lindsey has always performed best under pressure.

She places the cup on the edge of the table and flips it upright on the first try, beating Kelley by just a couple seconds. Her side of the table explodes in celebration. 

Emily is screaming her name, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her back and forth.

“God! I could kiss you right now!” Emily blurts.

Lindsey feels emboldened by liquid courage. “What’s stopping you?” 

Emily’s eyes go dark as she leans so her lips just barely brush Lindsey’s ear. “I don’t want an audience.”

She leans back so Lindsey can see her face. She licks her lips, Lindsey’s eyes flitting down to watch, a warmth curling in her stomach. 

That’s when they get swarmed by the rest of their team, chanting “The Great Horan,” and patting her on the back. In all the chaos, Lindsey loses sight of Emily. 

After escaping the excited and drunk crew members, she searches for Emily. 

She finds her in the kitchen, talking to Tobin, one of the production designers, and grabs Emily’s hand, muttering a quick “excuse me” to Tobin as she pulls Emily out of the room and down the hall with her. 

Emily goes willingly, looking amused. “You know, I was having a conversation.” 

Lindsey pulls her into the bathroom, flicking on the light and closing the door, spinning to face Emily. 

“Is this you trying to get me alone?” Emily teases. “Romantic.”

“Shut up.” Lindsey grumbles. She crowds into Emily’s space, placing her hands on the counter behind Emily, bracketing her in. Emily’s lips part slightly at this new position and she looks at Lindsey, challenging her with her eyes.

“Tell me if you don’t want this.” Lindsey says, flitting her gaze in between Emily’s eyes.

Emily softens. “I want this.” She places a gentle hand on Lindsey’s collarbone, leaning in. “I want you.” She murmurs, inches from Lindsey’s lips. 

At this, Lindsey leans in, closing the distance and pressing her lips to Emily’s. It starts slow, tentative, as they learn the feeling of each others lips until Emily, ever the instigator, presses up against Lindsey and slides her hand from Lindsey’s collarbone up to curl around the back of her neck, pulling her in deeper.

Lindsey leans into her, pressing her into the counter with her hips. Cheap beer has never tasted as good as it does in Emily’s mouth right now.

Lindsey breaks away with a gasp and takes a step back to take in Emily breathing heavily, eyes blown wide. 

“Totally unrelated question.” Lindsey gets out, still short of breath.

“Yeah?” Emily prompts, still blatantly staring at Lindsey’s lips.

“I have a gig next week, do you maybe want to AC for me?” 

Emily stares at her incredulously for a moment before barking out a laugh. After she calms down, she pulls Lindsey back in with a hand on her hip.

“Yeah, I guess I could put up with your grumpy ass again.” She says smirking.

“You like my grumpy ass.”

“Maybe I do.” Emily whispers against her lips as she slides her hand into Lindsey’s back pocket.

Lindsey’s about to go in for another kiss when a banging on the door startles them apart.

“You two better not be fucking in my bathroom.” They hear through the door. 

Lindsey goes bright red while Sonnett yells back “not yet!”

Lindsey can’t help but laugh at Emily looking far too pleased with herself while Kelley gags dramatically from the other side of the door.

Lindsey tucks a bit of stray hair behind Emily’s ear and takes her hand. “C’mon, let’s get back out there. I need another drink.” 

“If that’s what you need.” 

Lindsey is reminded of the last time Emily said that, when Lindsey made her fetch a coffee. They’ve come a long way in the last day.

She watches Emily pour her a new drink, all concentration as she attempts to concoct the perfect cocktail, she thinks that maybe letting someone else do things for her isn’t the worst thing after all.

She still hates five AM call times though.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> May write a short epilogue someday, but not anytime soon. 
> 
> Thoughts? Leave a comment. I love to chat. 
> 
> Feel free to find me on twitter @soft4sonny or tumblr @softforsonny if that's more your thing


End file.
